For software engineer Daniel Berry from the University of Waterloo, the World Wide Web is “a dream world.” However, “this dream is about to end,” Berry told computer scientists at U of T last month. Born with a hearing impairment, Berry finds e-mail an ideal medium for communication. But for him, and everyone without adequate hearing, cell-phones, MP3 players and audio Web content are simply inaccessible. And the problem of accessibility for the hearing- and visually impaired is growing.
“I have become disenfranchised from the telephone, so much so that I do not give out my phone number,” Berry said. So, in this age of information and communication, the Web is a valuable tool: a medium of access to colleagues, friends and family, and a bridge between gaps that most people unconsciously accept as routine. For him and other people with hearing impairments, the Web is a silent dream come true.
Yet, when Berry sees the progress towards rich media such as sound, video and other multimedia programs on the Web widening those gaps, he panics. “I watch Star Trek, taking place some 250 years in future, and see people interacting with the shipboard computer by talking with it.” Audio-based interfaces, like in Star Trek, are the worst-case scenario for hearing-impaired people like Berry. Does “progress” have to mean the dream of Web accessibility is slipping away?
During his presentation, Berry recommended a few ways to maintain Web access for people with hearing and vision impairments. For example, Web sites containing video or audio clips could include synchronized captions and/or transcripts for the audio portion of the content. For people like Berry, who can “hear” speech in person by reading lips, a simulated talking head with accurate lip movements would aid communication, especially if text is not available. A simulated sign language system could also help some deaf people. On the other hand, where the original content is text, a voice synthesizer can assist people with sight impairments.
Input is another problem. Berry argued computer systems should accept both voice and textual input from users. Here the problem depends on whether people with hearing impairments can speak well or consistently, and whether people with sight impairments can type.
Despite Berry’s emphasis on sight and hearing impairment, accessibility to the Web is an issue that affects a vast range of people with disabilities. In addition to visual and auditory challenges, there are people with mobility impairments, cognitive impairments and seizure disorders who also have trouble using information services. According to a 2001 Statistics Canada estimate, 12.4 per cent of the Canadian population has a disability. The number of people with a disability who use the Web is not known, but likely is growing.
Recommendations that target this wide range of users are available from the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at www.w3c.org/wai. The W3C sets out international guidelines and standards to ensure Web content is universally accessible.
As of 2001, the U.S. government made it mandatory for Web sites of federal agencies to be accessible to persons with disabilities. A similar regulation exists in Canada, but the guidelines set by the government’s “common look and feel” document do not penalize for non-compliance. Accessibility standards are catching on only slowly.
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web and a proponent of accessibility, says, “The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
While universality seems a long way off, there is potential for great improvement. Many innovative technologies have grown out of a wish to serve non-standard needs. For instance, e-mail is here mainly because of Vint Cerf’s desire to communicate over distance with his deaf wife. And the telephone owes its origin to Alexander Graham Bell because (ironically) of his focus on developing devices to help deaf people.
